He said to them, “ But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “ You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (from Mt.16:13-20) Have you ever noticed how easy it is to know about someone without really knowing them personally? We do it all the time with celebrities, public figures, and even people we see regularly but never really get to know. In Matthew 16:13-20, Jesus asks the disciples, “who do you say that I am?” That question still feels amazingly personal today. Imagine the disciples looking at one another, wondering how to answer. They had heard all the rumors and opinions about Jesus. Some thought Jesus a prophet, others a teacher sent by God. But Jesus was not interested in public opinion. He wanted to know what His followers believed. That is what makes this passage so relevant. It is easy to talk about what our parents believe, what our church teaches, or our pastor says. It is much harder to answer Jesus' question for ourselves. ...
Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table . (from Matthew 15:21-28 ) Sometimes, the most profound spiritual lessons come from the most unexpected places. In Matthew 15 Jesus withdraws to the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon. There, Jesus meets a Canaanite woman—a cultural outsider—desperately begging Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter. Initially, the encounter feels irritating. Jesus responds with silence, and the disciples want her dismissed. When she persists, Jesus explains the immediate mission is to "the lost sheep of Israel". Jesus continues with a challenging cultural analogy, declaring it isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. While this sounds harsh in English, the original Greek text reveals a softer tone. Instead of using the common slur for wild street dog...